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Balakirev’s mazurkas are a good deal more demonstrative than any of Chopin’s. No 1 in A flat major (from the end of the 1850s), establishes a characteristic pattern for Balakirev in its trajectory from modest, folk-like beginnings to a fiery coda. No 2 in C sharp minor (c1860) is less developed, but still chunkily scored in its concluding repeated section.

from notes by David Fanning © 2011